282 SEARCH FOR SPEELMAN AND PLATJE : 24, 25 June, 
excepting four ; and was informed that the sheep had been, through 
the carelessness of Andries whose turn it was to attend them, allowed 
to stray away ; and that the rest were gone in different directions in 
search of them. 
However; he and Stuurman, soon returned, recollecting that 
the oxen had, in this confusion, been left in the plain without any 
person to watch them. Soon after this, the dread of being seen by 
the Bushmen, drove Van Roye and Cornells home, though they were 
both mounted and armed, and could have little danger to fear ; as 
that nation are themselves, as I have before remarked, greatly afraid 
of horsemen : from whom tliey have, if inferior in numbers, no chance 
of escaping on the plains ; nor, if superior, any possibility of pur- 
suing them. It was therefore pure timidity and cowardice which 
compelled these two men to return so soon and before they had 
discovered any traces of the sheep. On such occasions it was more 
especially the appointed duty of the horsemen to go on search of lost 
cattle. They excused their return, by pretending that Speelman and 
Platje had undertaken to follow the track. This was a mere 
pretence ; though it was true that Speelman and Platje were the only 
two who continued the search : and who, indeed, caused me much 
anxiety by remaining absent during the night. 
^Bth, As they did not make their appearance on the next 
morning, I ordered Philip and Van Roye to ride out in the direction 
in which they were last seen, and make some signal to guide them, 
in case they might have lost their way. On arriving at a distant part 
of the plain, they fell in with a camelopard, at which they fired, 
but without effect. They soon afterwards came upon a Kanna (Eland) 
which Philip immediately shot. It fortunately happened that the 
reports of their muskets were heard by Speelman^ though still at a 
great distance ; and, these plains being, as already described, covered 
with tall dry grass, he directly set fire to it ; and soon the country 
for a great extent, was put in a blaze, and clouds of smoke ascended 
high into the air. Knowing that we could not but be uneasy at his 
absence, he understood the sound of the guns as a signal made to 
him; and adopted this most effectual mode of answering it, and of 
